Trench shoring frame

ABSTRACT

A trench shoring frame which comprises a pair of opposed sidewalls, means interconnecting the said sidewalls so as to maintain the sidewalls in spaced relationship, a rigid thrust plate located at the rear of the sidewalls said sidewalls and said thrust plate being interconnected so as to be movable relative to each other by a plurality of jacks so as to advance the shoring frame along a trench, and plate means movably connected to the shoring frame so as to be operable to cause an adjustment in at least the direction of travel of the shoring frame upon operation of said jacks. Said shoring frame may also be provided with plate means which are operable to cause an adjustment in the level of operation of the shoring frame.

United States atent Morrice [54] TRENCH SHORING FRAME [72] inventor: Anthony R. S. Morrice, 72 Kent Road,

l-larrogate, Yorkshire, England [22] Filed: July 23, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 57,444

2,908,140 10/1959 Everson ..6l/41A 1 Feb. 15,1972

Primary ExaminerDennis L. Taylor Attorney-Abraham A. Saffitz ABSTRACT A trench shoring frame which comprises a pair of opposed sidewalls, means interconnecting the said sidewalls so as to maintain the sidewalls in spaced relationship, a rigid thrust plate located at the rear of the sidewalls said sidewalls and said thrust plate being interconnected so as to be movable relative to each other by a plurality of jacks so as to advance the shoring frame along a trench, and plate means movably connected to the shoring frame so as to be operable to cause an adjustment in at least the direction of travel of the shoring frame upon operation of said jacks. Said shoring frame may also be provided with plate means which are operable to cause an adjustment in the level of operation of the shoring frame.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures TRENCH SHORING FRAME This invention relates to trench shoring frames and is particularly concerned with an improvement or modification of the inventions described and claimed in the complete specifications ofmy prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,377,806.

In my prior patent U.S. Pat. No. 3,377,806 there is described and claimed a trench shoring frame comprising briefly a pair of opposed sidewalls which are held in rigid spaced-apart relationship by a plurality of crossmembers extending between the sidewalls, and a thrust plate connected to said sidewalls by one or more jacks, so that upon actuation of the jacks the thrust plate and sidewalls may move relatively to one another with the result that the shoring frame moves progressively along the trench.

While it has been related that the present invention is applicable to the trench shoring frame described above, it will be understood that the invention is equally applicable to the other forms oftrench shoring frame.

According to the present invention, there is provided a trench shoring frame comprising a pair of sidewalls for engaging opposed trench sides, bracing means extending between said sidewalls, and a thrust plate located at or adjacent the rear of the structure formed by the sidewalls and bracing means, side sidewalls and said thrust plate being operatively connected by one or more jacks, and wedge means being provided on said shoring frame and being movably connected thereto, said wedge means being movable into and out of engagement with the trench sides and/or the bottom of the trench when the shoring frame is set in a trench so as to cause an adjustment in the direction of travel and/or an adjustment of the level of operation of the shoring frame.

Preferably said wedge means for directional adjustment will be located at or adjacent the lower forward ends of the sidewalls, and will each comprise a plate of substantial area, one edge of the plate being hinged or pivoted to the sidewall. Said plates will each be movable relative to the sidewall by a screwjack system mounted on or in the sidewalls.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, a preferred embodiment thereofwill now be described, by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a trench shoring frame in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the shoring frame of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a detail, to a larger scale, of part of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, and firstly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the trench shoring frame comprises a pair of opposed sidewalls 2 and 4 which are connected together by a plurality of crossmembers 6 and 7. As will be seen from the drawings, the leading edges of the sidewalls 2 and 4 are cut back in a direction from top to bottom of the sidewalls so that the leading portions of the sidewalls are at the lower extremities. As best seen from FIG. 2, the leading edges 8, 10 respectively of the sidewalls 2 and 4 are formed as cutting edges, a plate means 12 being provided which, together with the portions of the sidewalls in advance of the plate means 12, define a digging zone of the shoring frame.

At the rear of the sidewalls 2 and 4 is located a thrust plate 14 which is operatively connected to the sidewalls by a plurality ofjacks 16. Operation of the jacks 16 causes relative movement of the sidewalls and thrust plate so as to advance the shoring frame along the trench.

Each of the sidewalls 2 and 4 have pivotally connected thereto at 20 a plate 18 which in their inoperative positions lie flush with the other faces of the sidewalls. Each plate 18 is movable laterally relative to its respective sidewall by screwjack systems 21, one of such systems being shown in detail in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 3, it will be seen that each sidewall, in the instance of FIG. 3, sidewall 4, is provided with a pair of vertically spaced lugs, one of which is indicated by reference numeral 22, in each of which lugs is located a threaded nut 24 through which passes a screw 26. The inner end of the screw 26 has a head 28 having holes 30 which are intended to be engaged by a bar (not shown) for rotating the screw 26 relative to the nut 24. The opposite end of the screw 26 engages a partspherical recess in a lug 32 carried by the plate 18.

The wedge means and associated parts on the sidewalls 2 are identical as has been described above.

The trench shoring frame according to the invention is also provided with a wedge means at its lowermost extremity so that a degree of control over the level of operation of the shoring frame can be had. Such wedge means takes the form of an elongated plate 34 which is hinged or pivoted at 36 to the bottom of the shoring frame so as to be capable of moving upwardly and downwardly by means of screwjack systems 38 (FIG. 3) as will be explained later. The details of the plate 34 and its screwjack systems 38 are identical to those as has been described in relation to the plates 18.

In operation, assuming the shoring frame to be set in a trench (see FIG. 2) and it is desired to adjust the direction of travel of the shoring frame, suppose the directional adjustment is to be to the left, then the trench is widened as shown at the bottom of FIG. 2, whereafter the right-hand (upper in FIG. 2) plate 18 is pivoted or hinged outwardly so as to engage the right-hand wall of the trench. This is achieved by rotation of the screws 26 relative to the nuts 24, and since the nuts 24 are fixed, the screws 26 engage and moves outwardly the plate 18, so that the plate 18 engages the trench wall. The jacks are then operated to cause forward and sideways movement of the sidewall 4 and also the sidewall 2 (since they are connected by the crossmembers 6 and 7) to move to the left (downwardly in FIG. 2) into the widened portion of the trench. Operation of the trench shoring frame along its adjusted line of travel may then commence by operation of the jacks 16.

Should the adjustment in direction be to the right, the lefthand (lower in FIG. 2) wedge means would be similarly operated.

If adjustment of the level of operation of the shoring frame is required, the wedge means 34 may be actuated by its screwjack systems 38 to raise the forward end of the machine to the required level. Operation of the plate 34 is as described above in relation to the plate 18, except of course that the plate 34 pivots or hinges about a horizontal axis.

It will appreciated that the plates 18 and the associated jacking systems need not necessarily be in the positions illustrated. For example they may be located towards the upper extremities of the sidewalls and/or further towards the rear of the shoring frame. Further, one of the sidewalls may carry the wedge means towards the lower extremity and the other sidewall may carry the wedge means at the upper extremity.

Finally, instead of the plates 18 and 34 being movable by means of screw jacking systems, they may be moved by means of hydraulic jacks or by other suitable systems.

I claim:

1. A trench shoring frame comprising a pair of opposed sidewall structures for engaging the sidewalls of a ground trench when said shoring frame is in said ground trench, said sidewall structures being supported in spaced-apart relationship by a plurality of crossmembers so as to be capable of supporting the trench walls, a rigid thrust plate located at the rear of said sidewall structures and said thrust plate being interconnected by a plurality of jacks which are capable of moving the sidewall structures relative to the thrust plate so as to cause advancement of the shoring frame along the trench, each sidewall structure having vertical plate means forming part of said sidewall structure and being pivotal relative to said sidewall structure about a vertical axis located in arrear of the leading edge of said sidewall structure, each of said plate means in its inoperative position lying flush with and forming part of the outer surface of its respective sidewall structure and each of said plate means being independently pivotal about said vertical axis into an operative position whereat the trailing end of that plate means which is so pivoted engages a sidewall of the trench so as to move said trench shoring frame in an opposite direction and so cause an adjustment in the direction of advancement of the shoring frame.

3. A trench shoring frame according to claim 2, wherein said vertical plate means and said horizontal plate means are each movable about their respective axes by means of a screwjack system.

4. A trench shoring frame according to claim 1, wherein said vertical plate means are located adjacent the lower forward edges of the sidewall structures.

It l t 

1. A trench shoring frame comprising a pair of opposed sidewall structures for engaging the sidewalls of a ground trench when said shoring frame is in said ground trench, said sidewall structures being supported in spaced-apart relationship by a plurality of crossmembers so as to be capable of supporting the trench walls, a rigid thrust plate located at the rear of said sidewall structures and said thrust plate being interconnected by a plurality of jacks which are capable of moving the sidewall structures relative to the thrust plate so as to cause advancement of the shoring frame along the trench, each sidewall structure having vertical plate means forming part of said sidewall structure and being pivotal relative to said sidewall structure about a vertical axis located in arrear of the leading edge of said sidewall structure, each of said plate means in its inoperative position lying flush with and forming part of the outer surface of its respective sidewall structure and each of said plate means being independently pivotal about said vertical axis into an operative position whereat the trailing end of that plate means which is so pivoted engages a sidewall of the trench so as to move said trench shoring frame in an opposite direction and so cause an adjustment in the direction of advancement of the shoring frame.
 2. A trench shoring frame according to claim 1, including horizontal plate means secured to the bottom of the shoring frame and being pivotal about a horizontal axis, said horizontal plate means extending across substantially the whole width of the shoring frame, said horizontal plate means being pivotal about said horizontal axis so as to move into and out of engagement with the bottom of said trench so as to control the level of operation of said shoring frame.
 3. A trench shoring frame according to claim 2, wherein said vertical plate means and said horizontal plate means are each movable about their respective axes by means of a screwjack system.
 4. A trench shoring frame according to claim 1, wherein said vertical plate means are located adjacent the lower forward edges of the sidewall structures. 